Stephen L. Carter

William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law

Stephen L. Carter is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale, where he has taught since 1982. Among his courses are law and religion, the ethics of war, contracts, evidence, and professional responsibility.

Courses Taught

Stephen L. Carter is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale, where he has taught since 1982. Among his courses are law and religion, the ethics of war, contracts, evidence, and professional responsibility. Among his books on law and politics are God’s Name in Vain: The Wrongs and Rights of Religion in Politics; Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy; The Dissent of the Governed: A Meditation on Law, Religion, and Loyalty; The Confirmation Mess: Cleaning up the Federal Appointments Process; The Violence of Peace: America’s Wars in the Age of Obama; and The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion. Professor Carter writes a column for Bloomberg View and is a regular contributor to Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He blogs about professional football for the Washington Post. Professor Carter also writes fiction. His novel The Emperor of Ocean Park spent eleven weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. His novel, The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln, was published in 2012. His novella “The Hereditary Thurifer” recently appeared in the crime anthology, The Dark End of the Street. Professor Carter was formerly a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, as well as for Judge Spottswood W. Robinson, III, of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School, and has received eight honorary degrees.

More than 200 graduates of Yale Law School participated in commencement ceremonies on Monday afternoon at the William K. Lanman Center at Payne Whitney Gymnasium, surrounded by friends, family, and the Law School faculty.

Yale Law School professor E. Donald Elliott doesn’t share the same judicial philosophy as Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, but he believes that President Trump’s selection is “as good as it possibly gets” — as far as conservative judges go.

With a fervent debate raging over what actions should be taken against the Syrian government in the wake of a suspected chemical attack that killed more than 1,000 Syrians— including hundreds of children — Yale Law faculty offer their opinions and insights on a range of issues impacting the conversation. Below is a sampling of the most recent commentaries and interviews.

In the third installment on April 20 of the “Debating Law & Religion” series, Professor Bruce Ackerman ’67 and Professor Stephen Carter ’79 debated what type of reasons can be legitimately referenced in public deliberation.

On Wednesday, September 14, 2005, Yale Law School will host a discussion of the future of the U.S. Supreme Court, titled "The Roberts Nomination: What's at Stake?" The talk will start at 12:10 p.m. and run until 1:30 p.m. in Room 127.